Heide is Athlete of the Year for 3A track and field

Bayfield's Carl Heide smiles after leading his fellow 300-meter hurdles competitors over a barrier during one of the event's preliminary heats at the 2018 State Championships in Lakewood. Heide officially set a new meet record with his time in the prelim, would go on to win the title in both the 300 and 110m specialties, and was recently named Class 3A Boys' Track & Field Athlete-of-the-Year.

Bayfield's Jordan Lanning flashes a first-place glance after a successful attempt in the high jump during the 2018 Pine River Invitational inside Wolverine Country Stadium. She went on to win the state championship in the event, setting a new meet record in the process, and recently earned First Team All-3A distinction.

Dominant in his two specialties from season start to state championship finish, Carl Heide seemed to have but one thing on his mind as he hopped every hurdle placed before him:

Clear the last one.

And by doing so, clear last year's trip to state from his memory.

"Tripping over the last hurdle in the 300 was just...incentive for him," said Bayfield co-head coach Josh Walton. "He would have won the state title last year easily had he not tripped, and he really wanted that state title this year after just missing it by a little bit."

Bound for NCAA Division II Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, the now-graduated senior star was recently named not only First Team All-3A but the Class 3A Boys' Track & Field Athlete-of-the-Year. Heide took state titles in both the 300-meter intermediate (setting a championships record of 38.36 seconds during his preliminary heat before winning the final in 38.69) and 110m high hurdles.

"Carl just was an amazing athlete," Walton said, noting his contributions to the school's state championships in football and basketball as well as boys' track during the 2017-18 year. "It's been fun just to watch him grow as an athlete since his freshman year all the way to graduating as a senior."

Having helped harness and polish the talents of Heide and six other First Team All-Intermountain Leaguers during the regular season, then turn the whole show loose inside Jeffco Stadium upon the rest of the classification, Walton and Gary Heide shared the 3A Boys' Coach-of-the-Year crown.

"It was just a privilege to be able to be a part of that amazing group at Bayfield," stated Walton. "It was an incredible group of boys and girls that we got to coach this year and was just so fun."

Also named All Intermountain League from Bayfield are the 4x200 relay team of Dylyn Hilliker, Dawson Heid, Wyatt Killinen and Carl Heide; Dax Snooks in high jump; Colton Fine in pole vault; and Ryan Phelps in shot put and discus.

Another standout for Bayfield was the all-around effort put forth in not only the hurdles races, but all three jumping events by Wolverine junior Jordan Lanning, named First Team All-3A after setting a new championship record of 5'7.75" in the high jump on her 19th overall attempt.

"It would have been interesting to see, had she not had the 100-meter hurdles so immediate after her high jump, if she could have actually went higher," pondered Walton, "because she had to go run and didn't really go back. By that time her legs were tired; she'd done so much jumping and then had to go run the prelims of the 100!"

"I know they've talked about her being a heptathlete or decathlete when she gets to college because she's good at so many events," he continued. "We had her focus on the hurdles, long jump and high jump, but she would have been top-10 in the triple, and probably top-10 had she decided to do a sprint race! An amazing athlete."

Parker Lutheran's Maya Evans earned Athlete of the Year status after taking state titles in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes plus the long jump.

"It was fun to watch her," Walton added of Lanning, with a salute to assistant coach Suzette Baker. "I got to see her more in the long jump, where she excelled a lot. She had the privilege of competing (in Lakewood) against the number-one in the entire state (Evans), who was actually nationally-ranked!"

"She just missed the school record by three-quarters of an inch earlier in the year," he said. "I think she will get better and probably get that next year!"

Joining Lanning for All InterMountain League honors are Hannah Whitmer in pole vault,